back in summer and fall 2013 we lowered
one part of our garden to make it more
even but because of doing that the old
stairs of our patio weren't high enough
anymore and a new one out of Steel cost
about 800 euros that's a little bit too
much so I suggested to build one out of
wood that would be even bigger and nicer
than the new steel one we started by
removing the old foundation which was
quite a pain in the ass to do because it
was way too big and attached to the
house foundation luckily I didn't have
to do that finally we got them out and
could start making the new foundation to
start with we dictate l-shaped hole and
put some wood on the sides this doesn't
have to look pretty
then we mixed a lot of concrete all by
hand and buckets this was quite a
repetitive task and certainly a good
workout
once the hole was filled we smooth the
surface a little bit and I also wrote
the date into it the next day it was
pretty much dry and hard but it cured
for two full days the design I came up
with was based on what I thought was
practical for us and our patio and this
is how it should look like I got all the
measurements from that drawing and also
the catalyst for every individual piece
because none of the stair pieces is the
same and we also got the size and shape
for the foundation from that with all
the preparation done
I bought the wood from a local company
which offers pre-cut and molded patio
planks and the right construction lumber
everything is large wood and cost about
160 euros first of all I cut the lumber
to rough length
you may be wondering well it's a story
on its own if you want to know more
about it click here next I marked all
the 45-degree angles and the sides that
I need to read because the planks were a
little bit too wide for ripping I change
to a proper ripping light the ripping
itself then was pretty straightforward
and well not very that exciting
the clean table saccade left a sharp
edge so I wrote as part of it on the
room to smooth it out and match the
molding again
that's all I could do inside the shop
the preparation for the stair
construction pieces I had to do outside
the slabs I got four centimeters thick
and about 25 centimeters wide because
the shape of these pieces was quite
complicated
I made some one-to-one templates with a
big firm program from Matthias Wandel I
had one side right to the line so I
could align it with one of the pre-cut
edges I stable the template in place and
put some clear tape over all the cut
lines for the actual cutting I borrowed
a track sir from my friend
I also had to plunge cut several times
and here's a good example how not to do
it I'm still not quite sure what mistake
I made I think I plunge too fast but I
didn't get hurt only to try got a nasty
stretch you can imagine that this scared
the [ __ ] out of me
after the first punch experience I
really hope this thought type to prevent
it from happening again the other branch
cuts then worked okay for the most part
I use the track saw and finish the
inside corners with the jigsaw
some fine-tuning by hand as well then I
remove the template and transfer the
shape on two more pieces to get the same
shape and cut everything out for the
diagonal support piece I made another
template and here's some of the edges
need to be cut at a 45 degree bevel so I
marked where to cut it and cut it not
really the best method to cut this angle
with check so backwards but this was the
only way to do it with precision for the
other side I used a regular circular saw
with the saw Trek as a guide I had to
finish these cuts by hand with a chisel
but for the larger bevels I use the
table so much easier and safer to
now for some reason I lost nearly all
the footage from attaching the
construction to the patio and screwing
on the individual stairs so now I can
only show you the final result and show
how we did it there are two metal strips
that hold two of the construction pieces
to the patio support beam the third one
is screwed directly into it
the pieces at the diagonal are screwed
together with four big screws two from
both sides and in the foundation we have
two threaded rods per piece and cut in
the foundation they are height
adjustable so we could align the whole
structure for a precise easy and
repeatable layout of the screws I made
these two jigs they just align with the
edge and then I can clamp them down and
drill the holes
Tajik was made so that the Holtz and
also the screw heads are always in one
of the valleys of the profile this jig
works well for the straight ends from
both sides but for the diagonal sides
I wanted the screws to be at an angle so
to give them a little bit more grip in
the structure but therefore I had to
make another jig it worked with the same
principle you line it up with the edge
and clamp it down but here the guide
tube wings are made at an angle and the
rest works just same as before and the
holes come out about 1/2 from the edge
that's just right
both chicks have three holes for both
sides and that's because we sometimes
had to use different hole locations
because in the end I rounded over the
edges and then the screw on the diagonal
would be too close to the edge so we had
to use another hole that was well right
in the middle and then it worked just
fine
both chicks took me about 1 hour to make
but when I look at the final results it
was really worth it
once all the step pieces were attached I
marked a final length on all of them
then we remove them again and I took
them into the shop to cut them to their
final lengths
then we put them back on this end with
all the screws I clean some of the chip
out with the chisel and the same goes
for the other side for the final
touch-up I wanted to round over the
corners so I looked through the house
for something round that had the right
diameter I stick with a plate that had
just the right size then I simply traced
around it and cut the corners off with
the jigsaw
I used a down cutting blade to prevent
any chip out on the top and then smooth
to no edge by hand with her file and now
the stay is finished let's try it out
yep
it works the stairs actually already
half a year old and also stand through
the first winter which is where I live
quite a lot of snow an average of about
one meter this winter and the stairs are
white that with no problem the large
wood is very durable and only turned a
little bit gray but any unprotected wood
the stilettos with the gravel odor
foundation it looks a little bit like
the stairs floating over the ground
because you can't see the threaded rod
anymore all in all this was quite a
challenging and fun project hopefully it
will last for many years